AAA: SWB rained out
AA: Trenton rained out.
High A: Tampa (63-71) split a DH.
Reg. sched. game: Lost 4-0, getting just 2 hits. SS Diego Castillo’s 3 errors led to 3 unearned runs.
Makeup of 8/27 rainout: Won 5-3. Castillo 2 hits, RBI. 1B Steven Sensley 2 hits, 2 RBI.
Low A: Charleston (69-66) lost 8-5. LF Canaan Smith 2 hits, .306. RF Josh Stowers 2 RBI. C Eduardo Navas 3 hits, 2 RBI. 2 solo HR.
Posted in Mike's Musings, Minor Leagues, Players, Regular Season
From MLB.com
Yankees (Surprise): Daniel Bies, RHP; Glenn Otto, RHP; Donny Sands, C; Josh Stowers, OF; Brandon Wagner, 1B
Acquired from the Mariners in an offshoot of the Sonny Gray trade in January, Stowers has a chance to have four average or better tools, with his arm the lone exception. Otto has had difficulty staying healthy but can reach 97 mph and devastate hitters with his curveball when he’s at 100 percent.
Posted in Mike's Musings, Minor Leagues, Players
Good and bad news healthwise. Stanton to be activated today or Thursday. Encarnacion feels like he’ll be back. Now, no news yet on Sanchez, but
tonight, Luis Severino finally came back off of injury and in his season debut pitched four scoreless innings as the Yanks (99-53) beat the Angels, 8-0.
We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and how he comes through this. But very encouraging.
The magic # is 1 to make the playoffs, and also is 1 to win the AL East. Houston won so the Yanks remain tied with Houston for best record in the AL (Houston has the tiebreaker). The Dodgers are one game behind both the Yanks and Houston (Yanks hold tiebreaker over LA). The Yanks have a 10 game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East with 10 games to go.
The bad news is that Dellin Betances is done for the year with a partially torn Achilles tendon. He is a free agent after the season, and a bad year to miss the whole year. We’ll see what happens in the wintertime.
The Yanks got two runs in the second inning when Gleyber Torres singled and Luke Voit walked. One out later, Gio Urshela singled in one run and then Cameron Maybin doubled in another to put the Yanks up 2-0.
They broke the game open with six runs in the fourth. With one out, Urshela singled. Cameron Maybin singled, then after another out, all six runs scored with one out. D.J. LeMahieu singled in a run to make it 3-0. Aaron Judge walked to load the bases. Didi Gregorius doubled in two runs to make it 5-0. Torres then hit a 3-run HR (38) to cap things off at 8-0.
LeMahieu 2 hits, RBI .329
Gregorius 2 RBI
Torres 2 hits, 3 RBI; 3-run HR (38)
Urshela 2 hits, RBI. .328
Maybin 2 hits, RBI
Severino 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 W, 4 K. 0.00
Loaisiga (W, 2-1, 4.23) 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K
Tarpley 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 4 K. 7.71
Gearrin 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 4.18
Adams 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K. 7.20
In the race for the new team MLB record, the Twins have 289, the Yankees 287. The Twins have played one less game.
UPDATE: Breyvic Valera was DFA’d.
UPDATE 2: From the NY Post.
The Yankees have let go of five minor league staff members.
According to minor league head Kevin Reese, the team didn’t renew the contracts of hitting coordinator Edwar Gonzalez, field coordinator Jody Reed, pitching coordinator Scott Aldred, Trenton hitting coach Ty Hawkins and Charleston hitting coach Greg Colbrunn.
Aldred’s departure follows the departure of fellow pitching coordinator Danny Burrell, who left to take the pitching coach job at Georgia Tech.
Hate seeing Aldred go.
Posted in In-Season Moves, Mike's Musings, Minor Leagues, Players, Regular Season
Tagged Adams, Aldred, Betances, Colbrunn, Encarnacion, Gearrin, Gregorius, LeMahieu, Loaisiga, Maybin, Sanchez, Severino, Stanton, Tarpley, Torres, Urshela, Valera
The Yanks (98-53) lost to Toronto on Sunday, 6-4, in a game that marked the returns of Jordan Montgomery and Dellin Betances off the IL. Mixed results.
Tampa Bay lost, so the Yanks magic # for clinching the division is three. The magic # to just make it into the playoffs is 2.
They only hit 1 HR today, so they trail the Twins 287-286 in the race for the new HR record. The Twins have played two less games, so the Yanks have to get going there.
Houston won, and holds the tiebreaker. Both teams currently have the same record. The Dodgers are a game behind them.
As much as we would like the Yanks to get the best record in baseball (at least the AL) and maintain home field advantage, there are some things that Aaron Boone has to find out before the postseason begins, and finding out those things could cost the Yanks now but benefit them in the postseason.
One of them is outfield and Tyler Wade. With Tauchman and Hicks out, he needs to see how Wade is in the outfield. With Hicks out, Gardner will be in CF, and Judge in RF. Boone needs to find out if Stanton could play LF (when Stanton comes back) or if he has to DH. He needs to know who will play LF—Stanton, Frazier, Maybin or even Wade.
The question of if Stanton can play LF affects the 1B/DH spot. If Stanton has to DH, that affects Voit, Ford and/or Encarnacion, depending on who plays 1B. The best Yankees’ defensive infield has LeMahieu at 1B, Torres at 2B, Didi at SS and Urshela at 3B. If Stanton has to DH and not play LF, that takes Voit, Ford & Encarnacion out of the mix.
As for the pitchers, he has to find out if Severino, Betances, and maybe even Montgomery have anything to offer for the postseason. He also has to rest his main bullpen guys (Kahnle, Ottavino, Green, Britton and Chapman) to make sure they are good to go, and not overworked, come October.
Boone has to find out those answers NOW, and in finding out those answers, he may have to sacrifice home field advantage to do so.
Aaron Judge homered in the top of the first today (23) to put the Yanks up 1-0.
Jordan Montgomery, in his first game back from TJ surgery, was shaky, giving up two runs in the bottom of the second. Toronto up, 2-1.
The Yanks got two in the top of the third. With one out, Tyler Wade singled and scored on a D.J. LeMahieu double that tied the game. Judge walked, then Didi Gregorius singled to put the Yanks up 3-2.
In the bottom of the third, Montgomery gave up a HR to Yankee-killer Randal Grichuk.
Nestor Cortes gave up a 3-run HR to Grichuk in the fifth. Cortes appears to me to be a tweener pitcher. Better than AAA but not MLB caliber. I don’t expect him on the postseason roster.
The Yanks got a run in the seventh when Austin Romine doubled and later scored on a two-base error.
Dellin Betances, making his first appearance of the season, faced two batters and struck both of them out.
Judge solo HR (23)
Green 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 4.50
Montgomery 2 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 0 W, 2 K. Gave up 1 HR. 13.50 Season Debut after TJ surgery.
Betances 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 0.00 Season debut after shoulder trouble.
Cortes (L, 5-1, 5.54) 1 1/3 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 2 W, 3 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Heller 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 3.00
Lyons 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 6.52
Note none of the “big four” of Ottavino, Kahnle, Britton or Chapman pitched since they were down in the game.
The Yankees are off Monday and Luis Severino makes his season debut on Tuesday.
Ryan Dull was DFA’d.
Posted in Managers and Coaches, Uncategorized
Tagged Betances, Boone, Cortes, Dull, Green, Gregorius, Heller, Judge, LeMahieu, Lyons, Montgomery, Severino
I remember seeing Brett Gardner over 10 years ago when he played in AAA, before coming up to the majors. Speedy. If you would have told me then that he’d make the majors and lead the league in SB with 49, I certainly would have believed you.
If you would have told me that he’d have a season where he’d hit 25 HR, I wouldn’t have. I didn’t think at that time he’d have a season where he’d hit 10. When I saw Gardner then, I was thinking he was another Brett Butler (who never hit more than 9 HR in a season in his career).
Things have certainly changed. Gardner hit 2 HR yesterday, giving him 25 for the season–at age 36—as the Yankees (98-52) hit five HR in a 13-3 win over Toronto.
With the win, the Yanks stay 9 up on Tampa Bay with 12 games to go. The magic # to win the division outright (no tiebreakers) is 4.
The magic # just to make it into the playoffs is 2.
They remain one game ahead of Houston for the AL’s best record (Houston has the tiebreaker) and two games ahead of the Dodgers (Yanks have tiebreaker).
They have 285 HR this season, two more than the Twins in the race for the new MLB record, but the Twins have played two less games.
The Yanks got a run in the second inning when Luke Voit walked, Gio Urshela singled, and Gardner doubled home Voit.
In the third, D.J. LeMahieu and Aaron Judge both singled, and after a fielder’s choice in which LeMahieu was out in a rundown, Voit doubled in a run to make it 2-0.
In the fourth, Gardner hit the first of his two HR for the game (24) to make it 3-0.
His three-run HR in the fifth (25) made it 6-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, he made a great catch up against the fence. Toronto did get a run that inning to make it 6-1.
In the top of the sixth, Gleyber Torres (37) and Luke Voit (21) went back-to-back with homers to put the Yanks up 9-1. Torres’ HR being a 2=run blow.
The Yanks got four runs in the top of the ninth. Kyle Higashioka led off the inning with a double. Thairo Estrada singled him home to make it 10-1. After an out, Clint Frazier doubled Estrada to third. Tyler Wade had an RBI groundout to move the runners up, scoring Estrada, to make it 11-1. Mike Ford then hit a PH HR (11) to make it 13-1.
Toronto got two runs off of Ryan Dull in the bottom of the ninth for the final score of 13-3.
LeMahieu 4 hits (.329).
Torres 2-run HR (37)
Voit 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (21)
Ford 2-run PH HR (11)
Urshela 2 hits (.326)
Gardner 3 hits, 2 HR (25) 5 RBI
Estrada 2 hits, RBI
Paxton (W, 14-6, 3.88) 5 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 W, 3 K.
Gearrin 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. 4.24
Loaisiga 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 4.56
Dull 1 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 1 W, 3 K. 13.50
Jordan Montgomery and Dellin Betances come off of rehab and join the team on Sunday.
Posted in In-Season Moves, Mike's Musings, Players, Regular Season
Tagged Betances, Dull, Estrada, Ford, Gardner, Gearrin, LeMahieu, Loaisiga, Montgomery, Paxton, Torres, Urshela, Voit
The Yankees (97-52) lost to Toronto 6-5 in 12 innings when Tyler Lyons gave up a walkoff HR to Bo Bichette, Dante’s son.
With the loss, the Yankees’ magic number remains at 5, both to just make the playoffs, and also to clinch the AL East. The lead over Tampa Bay is 9 with 13 games to go.
The lead over Houston for best record in the AL is down to one game. Remember that Houston has the tiebreaker. In the NL, the Dodgers have the same record as Houston, one game behind the Yankees, but the Yankees hold the tiebreaker there.
Starter Masahiro Tanaka was not sharp, as he gave up a HR in the second inning to Randal Grichuk to put Toronto up 1-0. Grichuk has killed the Yankees this year.
In the fourth, Tanaka gave up two runs, both with two out, to put the Blue Jays up 3-0.
The Yanks scored all of their runs in the fifth. Brett Gardner led off the inning with a double and scored on a double by Clint Frazier. Frazier went to third on an error. Austin Romine singled in Frazier to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-2. D.J. LeMahieu singled and Gleyber Torres hit into a forceout, putting runners on first and third with one out. Luke Voit reached on a fielder’s choice, tying the game. A WP moved the runners up, then Gio Urshela singled in two runs to put the Yanks up 5-3.
Tanaka gave a run right back in the bottom of the fifth as the first two batters doubled and singled off of him. 5-4.
Adam Ottavino balked home a run in the seventh that tied the game. It stayed tied until the bottom of the 12th, when Lyons served up the gopher ball that cost the Yanks the game.
LeMahieu 2 hits, .325.
Urshela 2 RBI .326
Romine 2 hits, RBI
Tanaka 5 IP, 4 R, 8 H, 0 W, 6 K. 4.60. Gave up 1 HR.
Kahnle (H, 27) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. 3.30
Ottavino (BS, 7) 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 W, 1 K. 1.85 Balked in tying run.
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.01
Cessa 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.71
Lyons (L, 1-2, 7.27) 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up GW walkoff HR.
Notable baseball passing: Wally Westlake, 98. OF/3B. Westlake played for the Pirates (1947-1951), Cardinals (1951-1952), Reds (1952), Indians (1952-1955), Orioles (1955) and Phillies (1956). He was a platoon OF for the Indians team that won the 1954 AL Pennant, and a teammate of Hal Naragon on that team. Naragon just passed away himself at the age of 90 on Aug. 31.
Westlake hit 20 or more HR 1949-1951, and was an All-Star in 1951 when he split time with the Pirates and Cardinals, hitting .266-22-84, OPS+ 108. He drove in 104 runs for the 1949 Pirates. In 1952, his production dropped and he became more of a platoon player.
For the 1954 Indians, he hit .263-11-42, OPS+ 114. In the WS that year, he was 1 for 7 in two games.
His 162 g. average was .272-21-91, OPS+ 111. He played in 958 games, hitting .272 with 127 career HR.
Posted in Ex-Players, Mike's Musings, Players, Regular Season
Tagged Britton, Cessa, Frazier, Kahnle, LeMahieu, Lyons, Ottavino, Romine, Tanaka, Urshela, Westlake
The Yankees’ AA affiliate, the Trenton Thunder, won the Eastern League Championship over Bowie with a 5-2 win. The win clinches the finals, three games to one for Trenton. Rony Garcia pitched five no-hit innings. Dellin Betances got in rehab work.
1B Chris Gittens 3 hits, RBI. Solo HR.
C Kellin Deglan Solo HR. (Series MVP)
SS Kyle Holder 2 hits.
Rony Garcia (Winner) 5 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 6 K.
Dellin Betances 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Greg Weissert 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Trevor Lane 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Daniel Alvarez 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Posted in Awards, Mike's Musings, Minor Leagues, Players, Postseason
Tagged Alvarez, Betances, Deglan, Garcia, Gittens, Holder, Lane, Weissert
First the good news. The Yanks swept a DH from the Tigers on Thursday. The magic # for just getting into the playoffs, and also for winning the division outright, is down to 5.
Houston lost, so the Yanks lead Houston by two games for best record in the AL. The Yanks also lead the Dodgers by two games in the race for best record in the majors, which the Yanks currently own.
The lead in the AL East is 10 over Tampa Bay with 14 games to go.
More good news. Jordan Montgomery comes off the IL and will start Sunday. Luis Severino comes off the IL and starts Tuesday.
More news. Stephen Tarpley off the IL. He was activated before yesterday’s games. Also Ben Heller was brought up.
With 4 HR in the DH, the Yanks have more HR than the Twins (280 to 279) but the Twins have played two less games, in the race for who winds up with the new record for most HR in a season.
Now the bad news. We hope it isn’t worse. Tests will prove how bad. The injury bug has hit again, and at the worst possible time, with the end of the regular season just over two weeks away. J.A. Happ has been pitching with tendonitis in his left (pitching arm) biceps. Edwin Encarnacion had to leave Game 1 early with an oblique strain. Gary Sanchez had to leave Game 2 with tightness in his left groin. Losing Happ may be mitigated by the arrivals of Montgomery and Severino, but the lineup would take a huge hit if they lose the parrot and the Kraken.
As for Sanchez, what was he doing trying to steal? And in a game played in less than optimum conditions? And with the Yanks up 3-0? He’s a catcher. He’s slow. He NEVER tries to steal. SMH. That could really come back to bite them if he has to miss time—including PLAYOFF time.
Game 1: Yanks win 10-4. Luke Voit hit a 2-run HR (20) in the top of the first to put the Yanks up 2-0.
In the third, Encarnacion hit a 2-run HR (34) to put them up 4-0. He left later in this game with the oblique problem.
Detroit got a 2-run HR in the fifth off of MayHapp, who pitched well despite the biceps tendonitis. After giving up the HR, Happ gave up a single and then was pulled after 99 pitches, one out short of qualifying for the win. Understandable. The Yanks didn’t want to take any more chances.
In the seventh, Aaron Judge walked, and one out later, Luke Voit doubled. Didi Gregorius was intentionally walked to load the bases as the Tigers were hoping for an inning-ending DP. Instead a WP moved all runners up and put the Yanks up 5-2. After Gio Urshela struck out, Cameron Maybin doubled to put the Yanks up 7-2.
The Tigers scored in the bottom of the seventh to cut it to 7-3.
The Yanks put the game away with three in the top of the eighth. Austin Romine singled and one out later, Aaron Judge singled. With two out, Voit singled in one run and Didi Gregorius tripled in two and it was 10-3 Yanks.
Heller, who is just coming back from missing 2018 and most of this season recovering from TJ surgery, gave up a HR in the bottom of the eighth. 10-4, the final score.
Judge 3 walks, scored 4 runs.
Encarnacion 2-run HR (34)
Voit 3 hits, 3 RBI. 2-run HR (20). Scored 3 runs.
Gregorius 2 RBI
Maybin 2 RBI
Romine 3 hits.
Happ 4 2/3 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 3 W, 6 K. Gave up 1 HR. 5.07
Green (W, 4-4, 4.57) 2 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Heller 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 9.00
Gearrin 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K. 4.32
Lyons 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 7.04
Game 2: Yanks win 6-4. CC, despite giving up 2 runs, looked good. German was great in relief getting his MLB=leading 18th win.
Aaron Judge hit a 2-run HR in the first inning (22) to give the Yanks a quick 2-0 lead.
In the second, Mike Ford singled and scored on a double by D.J. LeMahieu. 3-0.
CC lost it a bit in the fourth, when he gave up two runs, but German was in shutdown mode. 3-2 Yanks after four.
The Yanks got one run back in the top of the fifth when Tyler Wade doubled to lead off the inning and scored two outs later on a single by Didi. Didi went to third (two-base error) on the play but was left stranded. 4-2.
Gio Urshela hit a 2-run PH HR (20) in the top of the ninth to put the Yanks up 6-2, and they needed those runs because Detroit scored two in the bottom of the ninth to close it to 6-4 before the Yanks closed out the game.
LeMahieu 3 hits, RBI. .325
Judge 2-run HR (22)
Gardner the Golden Sombrero. 0 for 4, 4 strikeouts.
Urshela 2-run PH HR (20) .328
Wade 2 hits
Sabathia 3 1/3 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 1 W, 5 K. 4.95
German (W, 18-4, 4.09) 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 5 K.
Kahnle (H, 26) 1 IP, 2 H, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 3.36
Chapman (S, 37) 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.32
It doesn’t look as if CC will pass Bob Gibson on the all-time win list (both with 251) because CC isn’t going the five for the win, but CC did pass John Smoltz on the strikeout list last night. The next one up is too far ahead to reach before CC retires at the end of the season.
Posted in Awards, Ex-Players, In-Season Moves, Mike's Musings, Players, Regular Season
Tagged Chapman, Encarnacion, Gardner, Gearrin, German, Gibson, Green, Gregorius, Happ, Heller, Judge, Kahnle, LeMahieu, Lyons, Maybin, Montgomery, Romine, Sabathia, Sanchez, Severino, Smoltz, Tarpley, Urshela, Voit, Wade
AA Trenton won 2-1 to go up two games to one in the best-of-five Eastern League Championship Series.
Chris Gittens 2 hits, 1 RBI (solo HR).
Clarke Schmidt 4 2/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 2 W, 9 K.
James Reeves 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Michael King (Win) 4 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 5 K.
Posted in Mike's Musings, Minor Leagues, Players, Postseason
